


The Necromancer

by MsThunderFrost



Category: The Umbrella Academy (TV)
Genre: Alpha Diego Hargreeves, Alpha/Beta/Omega Dynamics, Diego Hargreeves is Bad at Feelings, Implied/Referenced Cheating, Implied/Referenced Drug Use, Klaus Hargreeves Deserves Better, Klaus Hargreeves Needs A Hug, Lies, M/M, Misunderstandings, Omega Klaus Hargreeves, Past Mpreg, Reginald Hargreeves Bashing, Reginald Hargreeves' A+ Parenting
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-08-21
Updated: 2020-09-22
Packaged: 2021-03-06 18:06:41
Rating: Explicit
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 3
Words: 7,872
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/26023141
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/MsThunderFrost/pseuds/MsThunderFrost
Summary: Klaus had been overjoyed when he discovered he was carrying Diego's child. He wanted nothing more than to bare Diego's mark for all the world to see, to have the alpha purr with contentment and satisfaction at the knowledge that they'd created a new life together......Then Reginald took an interest in the child, and one little, itty-bitty lie cost him everything.
Relationships: Diego Hargreeves/Klaus Hargreeves
Comments: 21
Kudos: 207





	1. Carmencita Hargreeves, The Necromancer

“Baba,” honey-brown eyes watch in earnest curiosity as Klaus scatters trash all over the alley in search of… well, to be honest, she’s not entirely certain _what_ it is that he’s searching for. All he’d told her was that it was _particularly important_ that he find it. “Why won’t you let me come with you to the Academy?”

“We’ve been over this, my little turtle dove.” Klaus reminds her. He makes a small sound of triumph, producing a… half-eaten bagel from a bag of rotting foodstuffs. After checking it over for mold, he takes a too-large bite and huffs, “There’s nothin’ for you there, kiddo. Just a whole lot of bad memories and the ashes of a douchenozzle too stingy to leave us any kind of inheritance.”

“But… your family is there, right?” She asks, “How come you never talk about them? I know that they know about me—I was in Auntie Vanya’s book.” She stares down at her left sneaker, the corners of her mouth twisting downward into a frown upon discovering a hole in the vamp so wide she could almost fit her big toe through it. Fuck.

Klaus tears off another piece of bagel, “I’m all the family you need, buttercup. ‘Sides, I thought I told you not to read that garbage.” He raises a semi-accusatory eyebrow. He does have her there—he didn’t _expressly_ forbid her to read it, but he’d made his feelings on the matter pretty damn clear.

“Carmencita didn’t read it.” Ben chimes in from where he’s lounging alongside the dumpster. “You read whole passages of text out loud. It’s not her fault if she overheard something.”

She smiles, “Thanks, Uncle Ben.” And then her brow furrows, “Who is _that_?”

“Who is…? _Shit_.” Klaus turns in time to see Number Five descending the fire escape just above their heads. Wonderful. Just… “Get behind the dumpster! _Now_!” Carmen’s eyes widen a bit, before she scampers to her feet, nearly stumbling in her haste to hide herself away on the opposite side of the dumpster.

“You know… if you were trying for subtlety… you failed. Miserably.” Number Five says.

Klaus reaches inside of his jacket for his flask, “And _you_ know that there are easier ways out of the house, right buddy?”

“This one involved the least amount of talking. Or so I thought.” Five lets out an incredibly put-upon sigh, “Do I _want_ to know why you’re so anxious to keep me from seeing whoever it was that just ran around the corner there?”

Klaus appears to consider this as he takes a long drag off his flask, “Mmm… probably not.”

Five, thankfully, doesn’t seem too interested. That, and Klaus readily deflects the conversation to something _much_ more pressing—the matter of the $20 he’s owed for his absolutely _stellar_ performance the other day. Seriously, he’d put a lot into that (and it’d been a real bitch explaining to an almost-twelve year old that _yes_ , Baba absolutely intended to bash his own head in with a snow globe). Five bitches about how he won’t be the one to enable Klaus’ addiction any longer, which is _rude_. He does, occasionally, spend his money on other things. Like clothes. Carmen’s growing again (when is she _not_ growing?), which means new clothes, and shoes, and… maybe a haircut? There’s a hole in her favorite pair of sneakers, so… he’ll probably have to buy shoes first. There has to be a Payless relatively nearby, right?

He touches the fresh row of stitches at his temple and thinks about how he really shouldn’t be rooting around in the trash with those just out in the open. If he gets another infection, Camen’ll shit a brick. …Where did that expression come from, anyway? It doesn’t make a whole lot of sense, if you ask him. But then again, most people _don’t_ ask him. It’s kind of a thing, now, to just ignore Klaus’ opinion—if whomever he’s with even bothers to ask for it at all. Like the day their dear old dad had found out he’d gotten knocked up. Oh, he’d _really_ lost his shit. Told him he’d be much more useful spreading his legs for any alpha within a five mile radius with even the barest inclination to get their dick wet than he’d ever been as a hero. If only he knew who was _responsible_ for knocking him up. Maybe then—

Oh, who was he kidding? It wouldn’t have mattered either way. As far as their dad was concerned, a slut was a slut was a slut. And—Klaus frowns, wondering how long ago Five had decided to slink off. Ah, well. It’s not like it really mattered, anyhow. What’s done is done… and he’s getting absolutely _nowhere_ , standing there, waist-deep in day old garbage. He’s in _serious_ need of a bath. Or twelve. And he’s no closer to getting Pogo off of his back. Carmen seems to decide that the coast is clear and slinks back around the side of the dumpster, her honey-brown eyes fixed on a nasty-looking, greenish-black stain on the hem of her dress. Was that from gunk on the side of the dumpster? What the hell were people throwing in here, anyway? He doesn’t think he wants to know—but he’s _also_ fairly sure she shouldn’t be touching that.

“You know him.” Carmen says. He wants to tell her no, but he’d decided a long time ago that he wouldn’t lie to her. (Bending the truth isn’t really _lying_ , right? Right.)

“Sort of.” He concedes, hoping that she’ll drop it. “Look, I have to go do something. I know I said that we’d spend the day together, but…” Carmen’s lower lip warbles, and he frowns, “Don’t look at me like that. I promise, we’ll spend the _whole entire_ day together tomorrow. I’ll even take you to the mall and buy you the greasiest stack of nachos you’ve ever seen.”

Carmen crosses her arms over her chest, “Only if you pay the extra $1.50 for the avocado-ranch sauce.”

The kid drives a hard bargain. Especially considering that he doesn’t even have enough cash to pay for the nachos, let alone for the special sauce. “Fine.” He grumbles, “As long as you promise me that if anything happens, you’ll call your Uncle Ben.”

“You _know_ Uncle Ben doesn’t like it when I drag him across the astral plane.” And yeah, okay, that definitely sounds unpleasant when you put it like that. Ben describes it kind of like a full-body root canal, sans anesthesia. It’s a high price to pay to be corporeal for a little less than seven minutes, but—

“You’d really let your _only niece_ get hurt just ‘cause you’re afraid of a little pain?” Klaus asks, his voice dripping with disappointment.

Ben rolls his eyes, “She’s not my only niece. Allison has a daughter, remember?”

“Ah, yes. Claire.” Klaus hops out of the dumpster, taking another long drag off of his flask. “How old is she now? Surely old enough to have begun manifesting _some_ sort of ability. Unless she’s normal. Fuck, I hope she’s normal…”

“What’s wrong with having powers?” Carmen asks.

“Other than the fact that we can see and talk to dead people? And _you_ can reach out and drag their disembodied spirits back to this plane of existence and temporarily bind them to your will, thereby forcing them to do your bidding? Absolutely nothing.”

“Is it… _really_ that unusual?”

“Well, it’s certainly not normal, kid.”

Reginald had hypothesized that Carmen might be like the other 48 children. He’d said that he had _plans_ for her… starting with a DNA test. It was possible—unlikely, but possible—that she’d been sired by two of the 48, which would drastically increase the odds of her having some sort of ability. Klaus knew who her father was, of course. He might have quite the extensive sexual history _now_ , but at seventeen, he’d had his eye on one alpha and one alpha only. He hadn’t had a chance to tell the father the truth before he’d come to his own conclusions, and, well… Suffice to say, his siblings knew enough for Vanya to include a few brief, and incredibly vague, paragraphs about Carmencita in her book. And most of the information contained therein just made him seem like a garbage human being, unfit to take care of _himself_ —let alone a helpless child.

Klaus had fled before Reginald could so much as _think_ about ruining her like he had Klaus and his siblings. And sure enough, sometime around her second birthday, when she could sound out enough words to speak in choppy, semi-coherent sentences, he discovered that she could communicate with dead people. It took a bit longer for him to discover that she could actually make ghosts corporeal for brief periods of time. Once she’d made them corporeal, she could completely remove their autonomy and bend them to her whim—though the more power she exercised over a ghost’s free will, the shorter the effects of her power. It was a terrifying amount of power for such a small child to have and, to be honest, Klaus didn’t know the first thing about how to train her to use it. But he _did_ know one thing. Reginald, and that fucking Academy, would _never_ have it.

“That boy then?” Klaus says suddenly, “That was your uncle, Number Five. If you promise to be a good girl and do as I say, you can meet him. I’m sure that he’d find you… fascinating.”

Carmen’s face lit up, “Y-you really mean it?” She sounds so excited… Maybe he really is keeping her too sheltered. “Alright! C’mon, Uncle Ben! This alley is _nasty_ , and I heard that the library has _free_ hot chocolate today!” She takes her backpack, packed to the brim with all her worldly possessions, and high-tails it out of the alleyway.

Ben stares at him blankly, “Thirty years in a post-Apocalyptic future or no… there’s no way that Five isn’t gonna be able to tell that that’s Diego’s daughter. You do realize that, right?”

Klaus sighs, “It didn’t matter then. I don’t see how it’ll change anything now.”

“You didn’t give him a _chance_ for it to matter.”

“You weren’t _there_. You have _no idea_ what he said to me! What they _all_ said to me!” Klaus snaps. “They _all_ drank daddy dearest’s Cool-Aid and vilified me for something I didn’t even do. They probably think that she was taken by child protective services—,”

It would make sense, considering none of his siblings had asked after her when they’d reunited for the old bastard’s funeral. He didn’t understand why Carmen wanted to meet his siblings so badly. He and Luther had never been particularly close, and after his failed mission he’d gone radio silent. Allison had become a proper celebrity, she couldn’t have her washed-up, junkie of a brother stand in the way of her dreams. He and Diego talked… sometimes. It was clear he’d never been forgiven for the affair that he’d never had. Ben was dead, Number Five was missing, and Vanya… well, her book had almost cost him custody of his daughter. So yeah… he didn’t really understand what the allure was. But he’d do anything to make her happy, even if it meant hanging himself out to dry in the process. He just… _really_ hopes that this doesn’t come back to bite him in the ass.

“Just… take care of her, okay?” Klaus asks. “I’m going to follow Number Five, make sure that he doesn’t need any help.”

“Right.” Ben looks horribly put-upon. “Just… make sure that you take care of _yourself_ , okay? I don’t want to have to explain to Carmencita that her Baba got hit by a car chasing a flock of pigeons down the street—,”

“That’s…” he purses his lips, “okay, fair.”

“Who knew I’d still be stuck with babysitting duty after I died…?” Ben huffs, before disappearing. Klaus sniffs, tucking his flask back into his jacket pocket, before starting off down the street in the direction that Five had vanished.


	2. A Little Bit of Blood

It’s not that Ben doesn’t understand why Klaus would choose not to tell the rest of the family the truth about Carmen. It’s that he doesn’t understand why Klaus would choose to keep the truth about the family a secret from Carmen.

Carmen doesn’t know who her sire is. This is due, in part, to the fact that Klaus has masterfully deflected any and all questions she’s asked about him over the years. But a few years back, Klaus had… well, he had lied. He’d told her that he couldn’t answer any of her questions about her sire because he didn’t actually know who he was. Carmen had deflated a bit but had accepted Klaus’ word as gospel and had stopped pressing him for information. Still, that didn’t stop Ben from worrying that telling such a blatant lie would come back to bite him in the ass one day. Just because the rest of the family believed that Carmen belonged to a nameless alpha didn’t make that the truth. And Carmen… If Klaus is going to let the rest of the family vilify him for an affair he never had, the least he can do is exonerate himself in the eyes of the one person who looks at him like he hung the moon…

As he follows her down the street to the library, he can’t help but think of how much she resembles a young Klaus. In fact, she doesn’t really look like Diego at all. Except for her eyes. Big and round and _dark_. They glimmer like fresh honey in the light and grow dark as molasses when her mood sours. They’re green sometimes, too. But not the same green as Klaus’ eyes. No, her eyes flicker a bright, almost unnatural _neon_ green when she activates her power. But she has the same curly, dark hair, and the same incredibly expressive face, and… Maybe he’s wrong, and Five won’t be able to immediately recognize her. And even if he _does_ , it’s not like it’ll make a difference. Carmen is just a little bit—okay, _very_ —defensive of Klaus. His brother can do no wrong in her eyes, and he can’t help but… _wonder_ what’ll happen if— _when_ —she finds out the truth…

“Eep! Uncle _Ben_ —!” Ben returns his attention to his niece just in time to watch her duck out of the way of an incoming dragonfly. “Save me...!” He’s not entirely certain what she expects him to be able to do, considering his current non-corporeal state, but…

“If you stop jumping around like that, it’ll likely lose interest.” He tries. Unfortunately, the dragonfly chose that moment to perch upon her shoulder. Carmen squawks, twists, and tumbles down into a heaping pile of limbs on the sidewalk. He’s just about to check to make sure she’s alright when— “Oh dear… I think you squished it.”

“Oh no!” She exclaims when, sure enough, the dragonfly’s wings give one last pathetic shudder and fall still. “You poor little thing…” carefully, she strokes her finger over one of the wings, her eyes flashing that unnatural green color as power surges through her touch and binds the little insect’s spirit back to its body.

Ben frowns, “You really should be more careful about using your power. It would be… _bad_ if someone were to see you reanimating that dragonfly.” Not as bad as it would be if someone were to see her do so with a human, but—

“Y-Yeah, but…” she watches as the dragonfly flutters off, “I didn’t actually mean to hurt the little guy. He just… _scared_ me, is all.”

Ben is about to respond when he notices something else that is much more concerning. “You’re bleeding.”

Carmen furrows her brows, “I’m…” she touches her face, just below her nose, and sure enough, her fingers come back stained with red. “Oh… w-well that’s new.”

“You mean that that’s never happened to you before?”

She shakes her head, “N-No. Sometimes I have headaches, b-but…” she blinks, realizing that Ben is no longer crouching down alongside her. In fact, she can’t seem to see him at all. “U-Uncle Ben?!”

She stumbles to her feet, wiping at her nose—she’s still bleeding, and that’s… _concerning_. She needs to find Klaus, he’ll know what’s happening. But, uh… didn’t he say that he was following her Uncle Five? Who knows where he could’ve wandered off to. Which means that her best bet is to continue on to the library. There’ll be a bathroom where she can wash up… and that hot chocolate still sounds appealing, despite everything. So she grabs a couple of paper napkins from her backpack and presses them up against her face, takes a couple of deep breaths to stifle her rising panic, and continues on. Maybe Ben will appear to her again once her nose stops bleeding… The dragonfly flutters back over and lands on her shoulder, causing her to jerk back a little in surprise. The buzzing resonates in her ears, and then—

* * *

“There’s a problem, Klaus.” Ah, yes. There are many problems. The most prominent of which being that Luther seems convinced that Grace had something to do with their father’s death and wanted to—what? Turn her off?

“Yeah, ‘course there’s a problem. They want someone to blame for the old man kicking the bucket and Mom makes an easy target.” He blinks, before realizing that, if Ben is here with him now, he’s not watching Carmen like he’s _supposed_ to be. “Where is my daughter, Ben?”

“That’s what I’ve been _trying_ to tell you. There’s a problem.” Ben says, “She passed out in the bathroom at the library. S-She—She used her power to reanimate a dragonfly and it gave her this horrible nosebleed and—,”

Klaus frowns, “A… nosebleed?” That is definitely unusual. She’s never had a nosebleed before. Her power has never caused her to pass out before, either. “Why didn’t you say something sooner?!”

Ben rolls his eyes, “I’ve been _trying_!” And then, “I’ve been keeping an eye on her for most of the day. Even after the nosebleed, she seemed… _fine_. A little out of sorts, but… well, she stopped being able to see me and hear me… but the whole fainting thing is new. It’s not like I can do anything for her, being non-corporeal—,”

“Yeah. Yeah, I—,” he’s already starting toward the door when—

“Where the hell do you think that you’re going?” The corner of Klaus’ mouth twitches. Oh, that’s rich. After how many years of treating him like _shit_ , he’s only important to his family—to _Luther_ —now that his vote could mean the difference between keeping Grace functional and deactivating her. “We’re not done here!”

“Yes, well, _I_ am.” He flashes them a smile that doesn’t quite reach his eyes, “It’s not like you really cared about my opinion one way or another anyway.” He says.

“Klaus, that’s not fair—,”

Yes, well, life isn’t fair. He knows that full-well by now. He doesn’t even bother gracing Allison’s comment with a response, storming out of the Academy and into the night. Ben is babbling about something or other—he kind of (definitely) stopped listening the moment that Ben mentioned that there was something wrong with his kid. He doesn’t think he’s ever moved so fast in his life… he wishes that there was some way for him to swap powers with Five, so that he could be there, with Carmen, in the blink of an eye. He never should’ve let her wander off on her own, never should have followed Five on that goddamned stakeout. If he had been there, then none of this would have happened. Was she scared? God, he hopes that she wasn’t scared. He can feel bile rising in the back of his throat as he throws open the front doors to the library and—

There is Carmen. She’s one of the last patrons in the library, curled up in an armchair in the corner of the Children’s Section. She’s pale as a sheet, her little nose red and chapped (probably from using too many tissues…), but very much conscious. He rushes over to her, scooping her up in his arms, and the little girl lets out a surprised, but delighted squawk. She curls around him, tucking her face into the crook of his neck, and lets him have a moment to see for himself that she is fine. Well… perhaps not _fine_ , but alive at the very least. Under ordinary circumstances, she’d be reluctant to let anyone see Klaus be so openly affectionate—she’s at that age where hugs and kisses from Baba are gross, at least in public. It breaks his heart to know that she must truly be feeling out of it to allow even this much.

“Can you tell me what happened, angel?” He asks. He places the book she was reading back onto the shelf and makes for the front door, offering a wave to the friendly librarian that always lets Carmen check out one more book than she should be able to with her library card.

“Just a… nosebleed.” Carmen murmurs, “’m tired, Baba. Can we go back to the shelter?”

“We’re not going back to the shelter tonight.” He says, but his words are lost on her as she nods off, drooling all over the collar of his shirt.

Ben seems skeptical, “Are you sure that that’s really the best idea right now?”

“I don’t see you suggesting alternatives.”

He brings her back to the Academy, which has thankfully calmed now that the impromptu family meeting has been called to a close. In fact, if he didn’t know better (and couldn’t smell the unmistakable stench of wet fur that seemed to accompany Luther _everywhere_ ), he’d say that they were alone. He brings her up to his old room with minimal difficulty and tucks her into bed, swaddling her in the soft, cashmere blanket that Grace had ordered for him when he’d first presented. It still smells like him, even after all these years… it also smells like Diego, surprisingly enough. As Carmen doesn’t know her sire, he doesn’t know whether it’ll actually do her any good to have his scent nearby, but… it certainly can’t hurt, right? Her eyes flutter, hazy and unfocused, for just a moment, before she passes out again.

“Oh dear.” Klaus jumps at the sound of a familiar voice. There, in the doorway, is Grace. Her expression is unreadable, but she seems… sad? “What happened here?”

“Y-You… remember her?” Klaus is more than a little surprised. Luther had said that Grace’s programming had gone haywire, so he wasn’t expecting her to remember a pup that’d spent less than six months of her life under the Academy’s roof.

“Of course, I remember her.” Grace says with a patient smile. “You were in… such a _delicate_ state following the birth. You’ve always been so _thin_ , not an ounce of fat on you.” She says, “It… complicated the birth. I helped you to care for her while you recovered.” She reminds him, inclining her head to the side.

“Right. Yeah, I remember that.” He confirms. “It’s just… that was a long time ago, Mom.”

“Eleven years, two months, and three days.” She says. “She’ll be twelve before you know it. Does she want anything special for her birthday?” She continues, as if this is a perfectly normal conversation and not—

“Yeah—Yeah, she’s been asking for these… figure-things. I don’t know. She’s really into this villain character in this manga. She must’ve read the series like seven or eight times—she keeps borrowing the books from the library.” He shrugs, “I don’t really get it, but… the figure runs like $250, so I don’t think I’m gonna be able to swing it.”

“Hmm,” Grace takes a seat on the side of his bed and begins combing her fingers through Carmen’s hair. “Is she… like you?”

Klaus shakes his head, “Y’know I can’t tell you that, Mom.”

“I know.” She says, “I’ll sit with her for a little while, if you’d like to get cleaned up. There should even be a brand new bottle of the floral-scented bubble bath you used to like so much underneath the sink.” Klaus hesitates for a moment, and Grace continues to look on him tenderly. “It’s alright, darling. She just needs a little bit of rest. Call it… a mother’s intuition.”

Finally, “J-Just a quick soak, then. I want to be here when she wakes up.”

“Of course.” Grace nods.

He tells himself that she’ll be fine—he’ll only be gone for thirty minutes or so, and Grace will surely alert him at the first sign of trouble. And he _does_ need a bath. It’ll be nice to take advantage of the fact that everyone seems to be keeping their distance from him, at least for the time being, while they set their sights on uncovering what’s happening with Grace. He presses a kiss to Carmen’s forehead, brushing chocolate curls away from her face, before departing for the bathroom. Grace pulls out her cross-stitch and begins to work, unbothered by the fact that she’s drawing the needle through her synthetic skin every couple of turns. Ben hovers on the other side of the bed, keeping silent vigil and wishing, not for the first time, that he could do something more than sit back and continue to watch the world turn without him.

If only Klaus knew that, thirty minutes from now, he’d be getting stuffed into the trunk of a sedan by two freaks in kids’ masks… He never would’ve left the room.


	3. Meet the Family

Carmen wakes to the feeling of being watched. 

She blinks her eyes open, still exhausted but feeling better than she had when she'd passed out on the way here from the library. Wherever _here_ is, exactly. She can smell her Baba all around her, and the knowledge that he must be near keeps her from panicking outright. Surely, he wouldn't bring her somewhere _dangerous_. With shaking arms, she attempts to force herself upright, only for a strong, delicate hand to gently press her shoulders back toward the pillows. Carmen frowns--how had she not noticed that she wasn't alone?

Her eyes skirt up to take in the woman seated alongside her sickbed. Though the woman is smiling at her kindly, it is clear that there is something... _wrong_. Carmen's eyes catch the strands of thread that're dangling from the inside of her palm, by her left thumb. The threads are attached to a small trinket that she'd been embroidering. Had she... Had she been _sewing_ her hand to her work? There's no blood, and she doesn't seem to be in any pain... but still, that's terrifying. And yet, despite her odd, terrifying behavior, she doesn't seem inclined to hurt Carmen. In fact, the child thinks that she might be watching over her, in her own, odd way. Once she comes to that conclusion, she's able to muster a warbling little half-smile that her companion eagerly returns in full. 

"Um... hello." Carmen adjusts herself in the bed, no longer trying to fully sit up. "W-Who are--,"

Before she can finish her sentence, the door to the bedroom bursts open. "Mom? _Mom!"_ An unfamiliar man storms over, temporarily oblivious to Carmen's presence as he looks over his 'mother' for any sort of injury. His eyes settle on the bits of thread coming out of the side of her hand, "Mom, did you... those freaks didn't hurt you, did they?"

The woman smiles, "I'm perfectly fine, sweetie. I've been here with this little darling for the last thirty-seven minutes and twelve seconds." She turns back to Carmen, "How are you feeling, sweetheart? Would you like some water... or maybe something to eat? I can make you anything you like." 

"I..." Carmen looks between the two of them, now entirely confused. "W-Who...?"

But the strange man is already talking over her, "Who the hell is this?" He jabs an accusatory finger in Carmen's direction. 

"Be nice, Diego." The woman says, "This is Klaus' pup, Carmen." Brushing a couple of strands of brown hair away from Carmen's sweat-slick face, she continues, "Carmen, darling, this is your... Uncle Diego." She inclines her head toward the man who is currently staring at her like she'd threatened to douse him in boiling oil, "And my name is Grace." 

"Huh... I would've thought that he'd of lost custody of her a long time ago, all things considered." Diego huffs, "She can't stay here, at any rate. The Academy was just attacked. Having another person under our roof that can't defend themselves is just an unnecessary liability." Carmen flinches. She's starting to understand why Klaus had been so hesitant to introduce her to his family. 

_"Diego_ ," Grace snaps, her lips curling down into a frown. "She's just a child."

So she's in the Academy. Presumably in her Baba's room in the Academy. And the Academy had just been attacked--had she slept through it? She supposes that it's possible, considering that she'd woken up in a strange bed with absolutely no recollection of how she'd gotten there. There is a considerable blank area in her memories, just the right size for a gruesome attack to fit inside. So what does that mean? Was she in danger if she continued to stay here? Had she _been_ in danger at any point during her slumber? What about her Baba? He'd usually never wander too far from her side, especially when she was sick. He must trust this... _Grace_ , to leave Carmen with her while he wandered off to do whatever. If there'd been an attack, he could be hurt. Why was no-one checking on him?

"Shh..." Grace's good hand smooths over her sweat-slick forehead, "Don't worry, darling. Diego is all bark and no bite. He is no threat to you."

"I want my Baba." Carmen whispers, shrinking away from Diego. Something tightens in Diego's chest, to see this pup so clearly afraid of him. 

"I know that you do." Grace says, "He's taking a bath right now. But as soon as he's squeaky clean, he'll be back and _overjoyed_ to discover that you're awake." She assures the little girl, "Until then, it'll do you good to have something in your stomach. Do you think that you can come with me down to the kitchen, or would you prefer to eat in bed?"

"I... I'll come with." Carmen decides. Honestly, she's not sure whether she _can_ actually stand. All of this back and forth is making her feel a bit light-headed, after all. But she doesn't like the idea of being left alone with her Uncle Diego, who very clearly does not want her there. "J-Just don't leave... please..."

"Of course." Grace nods, stepping aside to allow Carmen to swing her legs off of the side of the bed and stand. 

It did not occur to her that there would be others present in the Academy as well. A man, who appears to have undergone some sort of genetic alteration, comes storming past them, not even bothering to acknowledge them before locking himself away inside of his bedroom. There's a woman chasing after him, who skids to a halt just a few feet away from his door as it is slammed in her face. She pauses for a moment, before closing the gap and slamming her open palm down on the wood, over and over. She's screaming _something_ , and the sound makes Carmen's ears ring... she flinches, using her free hand to cover her ears even as Grace holds onto the other to guide her downstairs. She just has to keep moving...

The first floor of the Academy is in shambles. How did she manage to sleep through all of this destruction? Carmen is particularly drawn to the shattered remains of a great chandelier--Grace warns her, absently, to watch her step. There's plenty of glass about, and she has holes in her... Carmen's brows furrow. She could've sworn that she'd discovered a hole in her shoe earlier that day. But these... these aren't even _her_ shoes. They'd never be able to afford loafers made of _real_ leather. But these... these are a little worn, but they're practically like new. In fact, _all_ of her clothing is different. And while she recognizes it from pictures that she'd seen of her Baba standing alongside his brothers and sisters, it feels... almost _surreal_ to see it on herself. 

She's wearing a rather well-kept Umbrella Academy uniform, presumably while her own clothes ran through a wash and dry cycle. And... it's not that she's not _grateful_ to be given something clean to wear, but rather, that she wonders whether this is a deliberate choice... or whether they honestly didn't have anything else that they could place her in. From what she'd read in her Aunt Vanya's book (yes, she'd read it, and she'd felt awful for it--but despite the actually content of the story, it'd been a rather compelling read), it's quite possible that spare uniforms were all that they had lying around. 

Even if she kind of wishes Grace had procured one of the male uniforms for her. This skirt is... uncomfortable.

"That was your Uncle Luther and your Aunt Allison." Grace says, as she leads Carmen into the kitchen. "Have you... met any of the family before?" She asks. She wants to be careful to not press sensitive issues. As one of the few people who are aware of the truth surrounding Carmen's birth... well, she's not exactly sure how much Klaus has told her, and it's simply not her place to share certain information.

"I met... Number Five? Very briefly." She thinks that that was his name, at least. She remembers thinking it was rather odd. "A-And I can see--," She snaps her mouth shut, realizing she'd almost said to much.

Grace raises an eyebrow, "You can see...?"

"I... can see that you have a lovely kitchen!" Carmen laughs awkwardly. She takes a seat at the bar and buries her face in her hands. "Does... Is there a reason that Uncle Diego doesn't like me very much? I didn't mean to upset him earlier..." Not that she thinks she'd done anything in particular _to_ upset him. She'd just had the misfortune to wake up in the wrong place, at the wrong time. 

The blonde woman shakes her head, "No. None of that was your fault, darling. It's just... things are... well, they're complicated. But it's nothing for you to worry your pretty little head over." Why did people keep trying to assure her that there was nothing to worry about, when there was _clearly_ something to worry about? "But Diego loves you, just as we all love you."

"...Are you sure that Baba is okay?" She decides to change the topic. The state of the house definitely has her concerned. 

"He'll be fine." Grace says, absently, as she begins cracking eggs into a pan. "Do you eat meat, darling? I know that Klaus was... _vegetarian_ , the last time that he was in residence." She considers this for a moment. It's kind of amazing that this woman--their mother? She seems a bit _young_ to be their mother--remembers something like that, considering that she doesn't think Klaus has been back here in her lifetime. 

"I do." Carmen nods, "Just not pork." 

"Good thing we have a fresh pack of turkey bacon, then." She smiles.

Somewhere along the line, Diego comes downstairs. He seems to have been summoned by the scent of fresh food. He takes a seat alongside Carmen at the bar, and Grace smiles and starts preparing another helping. As if this is perfectly normal, and the house isn't in shambles around them. As if he hadn't just told her how much of a burden she was on a family she didn't even know. Not that she's salty, not at all. She's just starting to understand why Klaus had been so hesitant to introduce her to the rest of the family in the first place. 

It takes her a notice to realize that he's staring at her. She squirms a little, not quite sure what to make of his attentions. First, he wants her gone. Now, he's staring at her like she's the most fascinating thing he's ever laid eyes on. Seriously, he needs to make up his fucking mind. Although... she's surprised to find that she's not as put off by his unfamiliar alpha scent as she would be normally. Even when he'd treated her so poorly earlier, she'd been more afraid of being kicked to the curb without finding out what'd become of Klaus then she had about the chance of him actually hurting her. She looks away from him, tentatively attempting to reach out for Ben's spirit. She can feel an intangible mass of... well, _something_... but either she isn't strong enough to pull him across the astral plane, or for whatever reason, he's refusing to come. 

"You look familiar..." Diego is _still_ staring at her. She frowns.

"She looks just like Klaus, doesn't she?" Grace helpfully supplies, "Why, she looks exactly like he did when she was his age... her hair is just a couple of inches longer." She places two plates of food in front of them, the eggs and bacon skillfully plated to look like a smiling face. "Eat up now, you two. You need to restore your strength."

Diego takes a bite of his food, before asking, "Klaus ever figure out who the baby daddy was?" 

"Diego!" Grace snaps, but it's already too late. The damage is done. Carmen glares at the other man, "She doesn't--,"

"Baba is an _excellent_ parent. I don't need to know the identity of the stupid knothead that sired me. He clearly didn't care enough to stick around, so why should I waste my time caring about him now?" Carmen hisses. "What's your problem, anyway? Talking shit about someone that isn't even here to defend themselves--,"

"Language..." Grace quietly interjects, but there's no way that either of them could actually hear her over Carmen's shouts. 

"What's all this yelling about--," a woman--Allison, Grace had introduced her earlier as Allison--pops her head into the kitchen. "Oh, I... I wasn't aware that we had a _guest_." Her dark eyes settle on Carmen, a curious look on her face. "And who is... _this_?" Carmen puffs out her cheeks, shoulders slumping. She's getting _really_ tired of being introduced to the family like some sort of brand new, shiny toy.

Grace opens her mouth to respond, but Diego beats her to it. "This is _Carmen_. Klaus' pup." Her eyes widen--she seems to _also_ be surprised to see her, for whatever reason. What the hell is _with_ these people?

She starts stuffing her face, if only to have an excuse to not have to talk any longer. She wishes that she had her Uncle Ben with her, at least. He might be able to offer some measure of insight into his siblings' minds. But she's alone, and while Grace doesn't seem to be as anti-Klaus as the other members of the household... she also seems to be having a hard time wrangling their opinions. She really wishes that Klaus had taken her to the shelter instead of bringing her here. Even if she'd woken alone... that had to be better than all of this, right?

Allison, thankfully, does not launch into a tirade about her parentage. Instead, she grabs herself a glass of water and reflects, "Carmen, huh... It's been awhile. The last time any of us saw you, you were about this big."

"You all... _knew_ me... when I was a baby?" She asks. Of course, she wouldn't remember that. She was definitely too young. But...

"Well, not all of us. Five wasn't... really around back then." Allison says, "But most of us... yeah. We didn't see you all that often, but you lived in the Academy for the first six months of your life. Klaus spent a long time recovering from your birth. Even when his body was in better shape... well, let's just say the boy definitely doesn't have birthing hips."

Carmen's brows furrow, "I... lived here before?" It'd been quite a long time ago, but... That would certainly explain the old crib that she'd seen in the corner of Klaus' room, with what appeared to be a handmade baby blanket draped over the side. She wonders, absently, if Grace had made it for her. "W-Why did we... Why did we leave?" Not that she's really all that keen on staying _now_ , but...

She might be young, but she's wise enough to know that their lives would've been a whole hell of a lot easier had it been feasible for them to stay at the Academy.

Allison, Grace, and Diego share a look. However, it's Grace that finally responds, brushing soft brown hair out of Carmen's face and moving to cup her chin, "That is a question you'll need to ask Klaus, once he finishes in the bath." It occurs to them, then, just how long Klaus has been in the bath for. "I'm... sure he's just taking a nap. He's probably incredibly tired--,"

* * *

Klaus is definitely tired. He's also bleeding, a lot. And the fact that he's been duct-taped to a dining chair in nothing but a towel is nothing short of degrading.

His kidnappers are not particularly skilled in the art of torture. They've been steadily beating on him over the course of the last hour and a half, despite his insistence that he knows absolutely nothing about Five's location. He can take a bit of pain--hell, this was _nothing_ compared to what he'd endured in labor--and still keep a smile on his face. Right now, he's more concerned about Carmen. Despite his insistence that he's fine, Ben refuses to leave him, even if it means checking in on Carmen's condition. He wants to know how she fared in the attack (though he knows that she was likely in the safest place in the entire Academy--faulty programming or no, Grace would never let anything happen to her), but can't risk saying anything about her on the off-chance that his kidnappers _didn't_ stumble across her in their quest to locate Five. 

Contrary to what his siblings might think, he's not stupid. He'd received the same training that they had, and while he might not be _physically_ strong, he knew how to hold his own when the need arose. He would continue to hold his own, and hopefully survive long enough to see his daughter again. Or, at least, that _was_ the plan... until his kidnappers finished conferring with one another and tossed a messy pile of fabric at his feet. That's... Klaus stares at it, eyes widening ever so slightly, even as they fill with tears. 

That's the dress that Carmen had been wearing when he'd dropped her off at the Academy. And that's... fuck, he can't tell if that's just a run-of-the-mill stain, or an actual smear of blood on the fabric. His heart leaps up into his throat with such ferocity, he thinks that he might choke. 

"What did you sick fucks _do_ to her?" He screams. The woman pistol whips him, sending his head flying to the side with such force, the chair wobbles and creaks beneath his weight. The side of his face _aches_ , and he can taste the coppery-tang of blood as it fills his mouth, "Answer me! Where the _fuck_ is she?"

The woman smiles. It sends an icy bolt of fear crawling down Klaus' back. "Wouldn't you like to know? If you cooperate with us, we'll tell you where she is." Klaus grits his teeth, ignoring the dull, throbbing ache in his jaw as he struggles against his binds. If only his wrists weren't bound behind his back, he could probably leverage the tape off somehow...

"Or, if you'd rather be obstinate..." the man makes a show of polishing his gun. The Russian woman that's been muttering to herself about something or other for the last hour reaches a fever pitch.

"I keep trying to tell you, _you kidnapped the wrong sibling_! They don't tell me _shit_!" He laughs, brokenly. Silently, he prays that they see it for the truth that it is. He doesn't know _shit_ about Five. At least... not anything that would make kidnapping him worthwhile. "Beat the shit out of me all you want--that's not going to change my answer. But if you touch a single hair on her head, I swear to god--,"

The man clucks his tongue, "Really... You can't think of _anything_ that might be of use to us, even with an innocent pup's life on the line?"

"You're a monster." He growls. It may not be as effective as an alpha's growl... but it gets the point across well enough. 

"Maybe he just doesn't care enough about the kid's well-being to give two shits." The woman shrugs, "I've seen his type often enough over the years. They get saddled with a kid young, and go through their whole lives thinking 'what if...'. Hell, maybe we're doing him a _favor_ , taking her off of his hands." 

Klaus thinks that he might be sick, "You shut your _fucking_ mouth! You don't know _shit_!"

He honestly cannot remember the last time that he was this _mad_. It had to of been when he discovered that Reginald intended to study Carmen, like she was some kind of scientific experiment... to _use_ her like she was nothing more than a tool. It was bad enough that Reginald had ruined his life, and the lives of his siblings... He wasn't about to let him sink his claws into an innocent, newborn child. And this, here? This was no different. These two asswipes were using Carmen as a means to an end, treating her like she was some kind of _tool_ that was only good for being used and discarded. And he... no, he wouldn't let them do it. He wouldn't let them get their hands on her. No matter what they did to him... if Carmen survived, it would be okay. 

"He has an... eye." Klaus can feel bile rising in the back of his throat. Just confessing this much is enough to make him feel nauseous. "I don't... I don't know the specifics, but he's trying to track down it's owner. There's a lab..." the man and woman listen intently as he gives them all of the information he has, before gathering their things. 

The woman grabs him by the hair, before yanking his head back sharply. He swallows hard, but meets her wild gaze with a steely one of his own. "You better hope, for her sake, that you're right." His kidnappers then proceed to manhandle him into the closet.

Klaus spits out a mouthful of blood at their feet, "Fuck you _both_." They slip a slightly damp cloth between his lips, effectively silencing him, before slamming the door to the closet closed and taking their leave. 


End file.
